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PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER, JAKE SHERMAN AND HEATHER CAYGLE
WITH MAX COHEN AND CHRISTIAN HALL

THE TOP

Good Tuesday morning. And happy International Women’s Day.

Government funding expires Friday. As in three days from now. And we still haven’t seen the $1.5 trillion omnibus bill designed to keep federal agencies open through the end of the fiscal year.

The bill is likely to be thousands of pages long, and it will impact every facet of the federal government. It needs to get a vote in the next few days. Yet top lawmakers and leadership are still haggling over it. 

Now, we expect it to be released today, but the timing is still unclear. Members will likely have roughly a day – and possibly less – to review it before it’s voted upon. 

The House Rules Committee will likely meet sometime today to set the parameters for floor debate on the spending package. The panel is also likely to consider a separate bill on new Russia sanctions. No one is sure what that legislation looks like either. 

If somehow the House doesn’t get this bill out today, it would throw the entire week into flux.

“What I’m trying to do is to meet the deadlines. That’s what I’m trying to do,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rose DeLauro (D-Conn.) told us on Monday night. “That’s what I said from the outset… I think we’ve made great progress, great progress.”

Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the ranking Republican on the panel, said this when we asked whether everything was ok with the bill.

“I didn’t say that,” Granger jokingly said before jumping in an elevator.

What are the outstanding issues on the omnibus? House and Senate appropriators are still trying to find offsets for billions of dollars in new Covid relief funding requested by the White House. The Biden administration wanted $22.5 billion in new Covid relief money, but Republicans have rejected their request without an “accounting” for the trillions of dollars in Covid funding already approved by lawmakers. Congress is likely to greenlight roughly $15 billion more, according to sources close to the issue.

The tax extenders package was still being worked through on Monday night. It’s not clear if that will be part of the final legislation. And lots of small issues have popped up here and there – “cats and dogs,” as one appropriator called them. For instance, there was discussion about future funding for President Joe Biden’s “cancer moonshot,” which will need additional money after next year. 

Yet despite the uncertainty, both sides still seem confident they’ll clear this massive bill by the March 11 deadline.

The Ukraine aid package – perhaps the most important political issue in Washington right now – has increased from $6.4 billion last week to $10 billion over the weekend to $12 billion as of Monday night. There’s enormous support for this all across the Hill, and that popularity is being used as leverage to push through the broader omnibus package, which will be criticized from the right and left when it’s finally unveiled.

The biggest challenge for party leaders in both the House and Senate on the omnibus is the clock. As we said, the current government funding bill expires at midnight on Friday. The House is supposed to adjourn Wednesday to allow Democrats to head to Philadelphia for their annual legislative retreat. 

That means the omnibus – or some funding bill – has to get passed by the House by then. Which then gives the Senate just two days to clear the bill to send it to Biden’s desk. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is going to need a lot of cooperation to get this though in time.

Separately, the new Russian sanctions package being put together by the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, could hit the House floor as early as today This legislation should get broad support as well. House Democratic leaders hope to pass it “under suspension,” the fast-track process used for non-controversial bills that requires two-thirds majority for passage.

This bipartisan deal includes a controversial yet hugely popular provision to block Russian oil and energy imports into the United States. With gasoline prices soaring across the country, and U.S. allies in Europe and elsewhere declining to make the same pledge, this may turn out to be a more consequential vote than many observers expect. The bill also would strip Russia and Belarus of their favored trade status, as well as allow the White House to start pushing for Russia’s expulsion from the World Trade Organization.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

America wants to whack Russia

There’s a new Quinnipiac poll that has some interesting numbers as you consider the White House’s moves on Ukraine.

→ 71% of those polled say they would support a ban on Russian oil even if it meant higher gas prices. 

This is an argument that many Democrats are making these days – that Americans should take a financial hit in order to help Ukraine. This is a tough political argument, especially with rising costs due to inflation. 

→ 56% of those polled say President Joe Biden’s actions to sanction Russia have not been tough enough. Real talk: With Russians advancing deeper into Ukraine daily, we doubt you’ll find a voter who thinks Biden has done enough.

→ 79% say that they would support U.S. military intervention if Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on a NATO ally. In a somewhat dark way, this should be heartening for Biden. In the horrible scenario in which Russia attacks a NATO ally and the United States has to uphold its Article Five responsibilities, Biden would have strong backing from the American public.

→ Just 42% of Americans approve of how Biden has handled the situation in Ukraine, while 45% disapprove. 

→ Biden’s approval ratings continue to be underwater. 38% approve of the job Biden is doing, while 51% disapprove. These are stunningly bad numbers yet consistent with other recent polls. And all Democrats should be wary as voters head to the polls in less than eight months.

→ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has 66% approval ratings in the United States.

→ This is interesting: Tom Barrett, who is running against Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, held a fundraiser last night at a home owned by Alticor Inc. Alticor is the DeVos family corporation. The DeVoses are a big force in Michigan politics.

→ Winning For Women Action Fund is launching a $1.4 million campaign in support of Jane Timken in Ohio’s Senate race. The ads will run in Columbus, Toledo and Youngstown. 

→ House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik‘s EPAC is issuing a slate of new endorsements today. Here they are, before they’re released: Tanya Contreras Wheeless (AZ-04), Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), Erin Houchin (IN-09) Annie Black (NV-04) , Liz Joy (NY-20), Madison Gesiotto Gilbert (OH-13), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05), Morgan Ortagus (TN-05), Cassy Garcia (TX-28) and Mayra Flores (TX-34).

FRONTS

Notice the banner headline atop the Washington Post and New York Times this morning – all about the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Ukraine right now. This comes as Congress will consider the omnibus spending bill – which includes $12 billion in emergency Ukraine aid – this week.

MOMENTS

All times Eastern

9 a.m.: House Democrats will hold a closed party meeting.

9:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his intelligence briefing.

10:15 a.m.: House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries and Vice Chair Pete Aguilar will hold a news conference.

10:45 a.m.: House Minority Whip Steve Scalise will hold a news conference after a closed GOP meeting.

11 a.m.: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will have his weekly pen and pad.

11:15 a.m: Biden will leave for Andrews, where he will fly to Fort Worth. He’ll arrive at 2:45 p.m. Jen Psaki will brief en route to Texas.

1 p.m.: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff will speak after the worldwide threat briefing.

2 p.m.: Senate Republicans and Democrats will talk after their closed party lunches.

3:30 p.m.: Biden and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough will “speak with VA health care providers about addressing the health effects of environmental exposures such as burn pits and receive a briefing on primary care and specialty health services for veterans.”

4:30 p.m.: Biden and McDonough will speak.

6:25 p.m.: Biden will leave Fort Worth for Andrews. He’ll arrive in D.C. at 9:20 p.m.

Note: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be on the Hill today for meetings with senators. We’ll cover all of that in the Midday and PM editions.

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ “Pentagon sends 500 additional troops to Europe,” by Eric Schmitt

→ “As Russia’s Military Stumbles, Its Adversaries Take Note,” by Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Julian E. Barnes with a Constanta, Romania dateline

→ “Rising Gas Prices Have Drivers Asking, ‘Is This for Real?’” by Michael Corkery, Emma Goldberg and Erin Woo

→ “A 459-Foot Mystery in a Tuscan Port: Is It a Russian’s Superyacht?” by Michael Forsythe, Gaia Pianigiani and David D. Kirkpatrick 

WaPo

→ “Belarus conducted widespread phishing campaigns against Ukraine, Poland, Google says,” by Joseph Menn

WSJ

→ “Russia Pummels Civilian Targets While Talks Make Scant Progress,” by Brett Forrest in Lviv, Ukraine

→ “Gasoline Price Hits Record High,” by Clarence Leong

Market Watch

→ “Wheat continues surge toward all-time high as Russian invasion of Ukraine shuts down exports,” by William Watts

AP

→ “Civilians flee Ukrainian city as 1 safe corridor opens,” by Yuras Karmanau

L.A. Times

→ “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorses Rep. Karen Bass for L.A. mayor,” by Julia Wick

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